Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter.
A/N: Thank you all for sticking with me through this fic. I hope you enjoy the ending.
Severus was counting down the days. It was just three weeks and two days until Longbottom would no longer be in his potions class. Only three weeks and two days to go. That was his mantra as he cast a scourgify over his robes, cleaning the goo from the menace's exploded cauldron from his teaching robes. In just a few short weeks, he planned to hole up in his chambers with the rest of the bottle of Scotch Dobbins had given him and toast to no more Longbottom. Maybe he'd see if Dobbins wanted to join, he thought. Longbottom probably was a menace in history as well…or there would be someone he could join in a toast for a good riddance to if not.
"Professor?" He heard over the running complaints in his head.
Snape turned around to see Potter standing at his desk, the room empty as all the other students had left. "Potter…what do you need?"
"I was wondering…sir…well, do you happen to know where Umbridge is?" The Golden Boy asked, nervously for some reason.
Snape didn't even attempt to correct the student to call Umbridge 'professor,' she didn't deserve it. "Am I the headmistress's keeper?" He raised an eyebrow in question. Had she not been in class?
"Er, I just…well, she wasn't in class today," Potter continued with a strange look on his face. Severus couldn't really place it, it was almost like…shame?
"Mr. Potter are you looking for more detentions with the woman?" Severus sneered. "She probably had to attend some sort of meeting at the ministry," he added in dismissal.
Potter seemed to sigh in relief, causing Severus's curiosity to peak. "Potter, is there something I should know about?" He finally turned his full attention to the boy. "Is there a reason to believe the headmistress is not in fact attending some kind of meeting at the ministry?"
"Erm," Potter awkwardly started. For Merlin's sake! Could the boy not talk without hedging and stammering?! "Well…I was just thinking that she went missing, and well, there might be someone who might be angry with her and might wish her harm."
"Literally everyone at this school and probably the ministry as well," Snape couldn't help a bit of a snort of amusement at that.
Potter glanced to the door. "I mean someone who might be able to make her disappear…" Potter said with everything besides two winks and air quotes to get his point across. The boy was not subtle.
"I doubt that's what happened," Snape sighed. Although, he definitely wouldn't put it past Dobbins to kill the woman off, he was an assassin after all. He said he wasn't after anyone at the school though…although, he could see the man making an exception for the toad of a woman. "I will however talk to our mutual acquaintance. I don't believe there is cause for concern at this point."
Potter nodded his head quickly in relief. "Thank you, Professor. I'd ask, but I think he's much more likely to tell you the truth than me," Potter said before rushing out of the room as if he were being chased.
Severus had another class before dinner, so he had completely forgotten the conversation with Potter when he sat down to eat in the Great Hall. "Ah, Severus," McGonagall gave him a genuine smile, which was odd in itself, but the woman seemed constantly irritated recently, so it was even stranger. "How were your classes today?"
He gave her a short nod and a suspicious look. "They were fine, Minerva. You seem in a pleasant mood."
McGonagall leaned in conspiratorially. "Delores has been away from the school all day. It's almost like going on holiday. I hate that woman!"
The earlier conversation came rushing back to the potions professor. "Do you know where she has gone?" He asked, now thinking Potter might not be as far off as his initial thought.
"No one knows or cares," McGonagall said, almost giddily. He never thought he would ever think 'giddy' and McGonagall in the same thought, but that's where they were apparently.
"Excuse me," Severus stood, leaving the rest of his food. "I just remembered something I need to attend to."
McGonagall waved him off and turned her attention to a smiling Flitwick. Honestly, you would think the woman were the Dark Lord himself the way they were all going on. He grumbled all the way to the history corridor to face Salazar Slytherin. "Tell him I'm here…please," he added the please after a vicious glare from the founder.
"Young man, in my day manners were actually attended to, and respect for one's elders was upheld," Slytherin glared.
Holding back an eyeroll, Snape rephrased his request and imbued it with as much sarcasm as he could muster. "Lord Slytherin, would you please tell Professor Dobbins that Professor Snape would like to see him at his convenience?"
Slytherin's glare turned into a glower as they stared each other down. Snape had no clue how or why he had gotten into a staring contest with a portrait, but he was going to win. "May I ask the purpose of your visit?" The portrait seethed.
Mentally planning to switch out Salazar with the mermaid from before just as soon as possible, Snape returned the glower. "I'm here to ask if your master murdered another professor today."
At this Salazar blinked and Snape smirked triumphantly, until he realized that he was arguing with a painting and really hoped no one was watching this exchange. "I'm sure it was deserved if he did," Salazar finally concluded with a nod as he swung forward to let in Snape.
"Merlin! He makes me want to be a Gryffindor!" Snape growled as he entered the chambers.
Dobbins looked up from where he was eating a sandwich over the essays he was marking. He had to put down the sandwich he started laughing so hard. "Snape…you do realize the two of you are exactly the same, right?" Dobbins said as he continued to laugh.
"I have nothing in common with that menace," Snape crossed his arms and glared as he sat in the armchair across from the history professor.
"You keep telling yourself that," Dobbins tried to pull himself together. He pushed over the plate with another sandwich on it. "You eat dinner? It's yours if you want it. I'm not going to the Great Hall if you came here to ask. Dumbledore isn't here, and I refuse to be 'sociable.'"
Snape finally took the sandwich when his…colleague? Friend?...stopped laughing at him. He had taken two bites of the sandwich before the thought even occurred to him that maybe he shouldn't be taking food from someone he suspected of murdering a co-worker. He shrugged mentally. For some reason, he knew he was safe, even if the man were a killer. "So, Dobbins, do you know where Umbridge is?" He asked, watching the man's reaction. His nonverbals and expression gave absolutely nothing away.
"Not sure, Minerva seemed to be dancing through the hallways though," Dobbins said unconcernedly.
Trying a different tactic, Snape started again. "Mr. Potter seems to think you might have had something to do with her disappearance."
"Really?" Dobbins raised an eyebrow thoughtfully. "I guess it isn't beyond comprehension. I'm surprised he would go to you with his concerns though."
"He seems to think I'd have a better shot of getting the truth from you," Snape realized the man never actually said he didn't kill the headmistress in his reply.
Dobbins shrugged. "He knows we're friendly, and he believes that friends tell each other things, like he does with Mr. Weasley and Ms. Granger. He's naïve that way."
Completely glazing over the fact that the assassin had practically called him a friend, Snape was becoming more and more certain that they would never find Delores Umbridge ever again, except in a morgue possibly. "So, you had absolutely nothing to do with her sudden disappearance?"
"Snape, you know my contract isn't for Umbridge," Dobbins gave him a smile that sent chills of fear down his spine.
"And, you would of course never kill someone that you didn't have a contract on?"
Dobbins went back to his marking. "Only if it were for really good reason."
If he hadn't gone to Durmstrang, Snape was certain Dobbins would have been in Slytherin. He hadn't once said either way if he had killed the woman or not but had answered every single question posed to him. "You really are a frus…"
Snape's sentence ended in a hiss as he and Dobbins both grabbed their left arms. "You sure you want to go this time?" Dobbins reminded the spy of his warning from before about this particular meeting.
Snape frowned at him and crossed his arms. "Unless you have already killed the Dark Lord, I must go when called. If, however, you get me killed at this meeting, I will come back and haunt you until the end of your days," Snape warned as he stood to leave.
"You'd have to get in line behind the multitude of other ghosts," Dobbins said darkly as he stood to grab his cloak.
"You're coming as well?" Snape asked in shock with his hand on the door.
"Didn't I tell you?" Dobbins grinned at him mischievously. "I never come when called."
The Dark Lord was insane, yes, but he seemed even more off balance after the loss of his top lieutenants from where Snape was watching him as he uncomfortably kneeled on the hard, stone floor. He was still young, but this whole kneeling thing was really hard on his joints. It was time for the maniac to go just so his knees could get a break. Well, that and the almost boringly common crucios really did a number on a person over the years. "The boy's mind is still closed to me. The old fool must have taught the brat Occlumency. Lucius, I believe we should revisit your suggestion."
The elder Malfoy almost glowed as his master turned his attention his way. It made Severus sick. He'd never liked Lucius, and he could only hope that his godson, Draco, would avoid the fate of becoming his father. "My lord, I…"
Before Lucius got any farther in his explanation, a loud crack resounded throughout the ballroom at Riddle Manor where they were meeting. The sound was very similar to that of a portkey. Severus was thankful he was towards the back of the gathering as whatever had happened caused the Dark Lord to lose whatever sense he had left in his snake-like brain and start to rant and randomly hex those around him. Sheltering behind a column, Snape finally got a look at what had been dropped unceremoniously in front of the Dark Lord, most likely by portkey. The unmoving and bloody body of Nagini lay several feet from where her master was raving. As the hexes started turning to killing curses, many Death Eaters immediately apparated away. "Lucius!" The Dark Lord finally screamed as he dropped his wand to his side.
"M-my lord?" Malfoy said from where he was cowering on the floor.
"Come with me. Everyone else leave! We're implementing your plan, and you had best hope it goes flawlessly!"
Severus was amazed he had avoided all the hexes and hadn't even caught a crucio as he apparated back to the gates of Hogwarts. How Dobbins had gotten Nagini was beyond his comprehension, but he was right, he definitely made the Dark Lord insanely angry. What the assassin's purpose was in killing the snake though was a mystery. Severus just hoped the man was back in his chambers and up for a glass of firewhisky. After dodging killing curses, Severus was always in the mood for a firewhisky.
After everything that happened and would happen, it was weeks later before anyone concluded that Delores Umbridge was officially missing…never to be seen or heard from again.
Severus was relaxing in his office while waiting for the batch of wolfsbane he had been working on to cool. It had turned out to be a rare, good day. All the students were off gallivanting in Hogsmeade for the last Hogsmeade weekend of the year, and Severus had not gotten chaperone duty this time. It was just him, in his dungeons, with his potions, and the quiet. A perfect Saturday. An uneasy feeling started creeping up on him with that thought. Being a determined pessimist, something had to go wrong now. It was with a sigh of resignation that he heard hurried feet running towards his office. And here must be the confirmation of his beliefs that the day was too peaceful.
"Uncle Sev!" Draco Malfoy bellowed as he rushed into Severus's office, clearly out of breath.
Severus sat up straighter and prepared himself for whatever new catastrophe had fallen. "Draco, what has happened?"
"Potter!" Draco gasped out, sucking in large gulps of air. "Potter, they took him…the Death Eaters."
"Death Eaters?" Severus was standing now, pulling out his wand.
Draco nodded his head vigorously, "I think my f-father was one of them. They just grabbed him in Hogsmeade."
Immediately, Snape conjured his patronus and set a message to Dumbledore to call together the Order. "Draco, go back to the dorms. Tell no one what happened," Snape instructed him seriously.
"Yes, Uncle Sev," Draco rushed out of his godfather's office, fear plainly written across his face.
Fearing the events unfolding around him as well, Severus rushed through the halls, only stopping as he approached the door to the history professor's office. "Look, we know he trusts you!" Someone yelled from inside the office. "You have to do something!"
There were a much quieter response that Snape couldn't make out as he walked up to the door. "We're going too, and you can't stop us!" Someone yelled back, someone that sounded much like Ms. Granger.
"Ms. Granger, Mr. Weasley, I would have absolutely no problem stopping you, and you will not be putting yourselves or others in danger by leaving this school," Dobbins said in his voice that would have the most hardened Death Eater quaking in his boots.
"He's correct, Ms. Granger," Severus said, entering the office to see a red-faced Ronald Weasley and a fuming Hermione Granger. "The Order had been notified. Your presence would only put Mr. Potter and others in more danger."
"Professor, but…he was just taken. Grabbed from behind and apparated away," Granger almost wailed at the potions master.
"I'm aware, Ms. Granger. Now stop these histrionics and let me and Professor Dobbins join those in trying to find Mr. Potter," Snape stared her down.
"Either you will return to your common room this instant, or I'll stun the both of you and leave you for Madam Pomfrey," Dobbins said impatiently motioning to the door. "You are keeping us from going after your friend."
With a sob, Granger allowed herself to be led away by the glowering Ronald Weasley. "Merlin, children!" Dobbins exclaimed as he threw his robe over his shoulders and strode from the room and towards the gates of Hogwarts, not even checking that Severus was following him. "Next person that stops me I'm stunning, no questions asked."
"I came to tell you what happened, not to stop you," Snape found himself jogging beside the shorter man who was almost flying in his haste. "Do you even know where we're going?"
"Ministry," Dobbins said tersely. "He still wants the prophesy."
Snape sneered at the thought. "We should have told him it was no longer there."
"He'd probably just have done something even more drastic then," Dobbins responded, pushing open the gates as they approached. Two seconds later and the man had already apparated away.
Guessing at the destination, Snape apparated just a second later to the visitor's entrance at the Ministry of Magic.
Severus was completely alone as he stood, staring at the phonebooth entrance to the ministry. He was certain this was where Dobbins had apparated to. Where else could someone get into the ministry on a Saturday? Not stopping to think if this was a bad idea or if it would blow his cover, Snape entered the phonebooth and made up some fake meeting with the Department of Magical Law Enforcement to get the phonebooth to allow him entrance. Yes, he acknowledged, it was a very Gryffindor thing to do, but his friend was in there somewhere…and the boy he had sworn to protect, yeah him too.
The Death Eaters hadn't even made it past the atrium. It looked like the Dark Lord was trying to possess Potter, presumably so the boy would be the one registered by the ministry as having taken the prophesy. Severus was surprised Dobbins had done such a good job teaching the dunderhead Occlumency that the Dark Lord was struggling to get in his mind. They were locked in a silent struggle, the boy held tightly by Lucius Malfoy as the Dark Lord stared into his eyes, sweat beading on both their brows.
"Tut, tut, tut, Tom," a familiar voice drawled loudly through the atrium. Severus's head whipped around as he saw Dobbins leaning nonchalantly against a door that Snape was fairly certain led to where the Unspeakables worked. "If you wanted the prophesy, you should have just asked," Dobbins was tossing the glass orb up and down in one hand.
"Who are you?" The Dark Lord snarled, his eyes leaving Potter and greedily looking at the orb.
"I'm no one of consequence, just a history professor," Dobbins shrugged and continued to toss the orb.
"You will bring me that prophesy, now," the snake-like man commanded with venom.
"Of course…oops," Dobbins purposefully missed catching the prophesy with a fake look of shock on his face as it shattered at his feet.
"Nooo!" The Dark Lord and several Death Eaters all screamed at the same time.
As a wispy mist began to rise from the shattered orb and take shape into a woman, Dobbins gave a fake cough and a wave, dispelling the mist and banishing the prophesy. "Ergh, smoke, always messes with my sinuses. I really hope that wasn't terribly important."
"Kill him!" The Dark Lord screamed as he shot his own killing curse at the empty spot where Dobbins had stood one moment before.
Almost simultaneously, there were two loud cracks. The first, Harry Potter disappeared from where he was crumpled on the floor. The second, none of the Death Eaters could see where it was or what had happened. Severus, on the other hand, saw Harry Potter appear just behind where he was hiding by the welcome desk. "Mr. Harry Potter, sir. Dobby has you. You's safe," Dobby, the house elf cooed to the boy who looked like he had just come through to the other side of several Cruciatus Curses. Snape quickly cast a notice-me-not ward around the three of them, knowing it wouldn't fool the Dark Lord for long.
"How did you get here, Dobby?" Potter slurred as he squinted at the house elf in confusion.
"I's always come when Mr. Harry Potter, sir calls me," Dobby said with a smug smile on his face. "I's keep you safe. You stay with Dobby."
"Yes, keep him here, Dobby," Snape instructed the elf as he watched the Death Eaters rush through the atrium chasing the apparating and disapparating form of the history professor. Snape smirked, he guessed the man must have never heard that apparating in the Ministry of Magic was impossible, the same as Hogwarts. He quickly stood and cast a stunner at a Death Eater who almost came right up behind Dobbins.
Moving back behind cover, Snape decided to make his way closer to the lifts where the brunt of the Death Eaters seemed to be gathered. A thin hand shot out and grabbed his wrist. "Be safe, Professor," green eyes bore into his own, willing him to be careful.
"Stay hidden," Severus answered, pulling the hand from his arm.
Sneaking around the marble columns, Severus used the chaos caused by the wild firing of hexes from the Dark Lord and the taunting assassin almost dancing around the atrium to come up level with the door Dobbins had originally been found leaning on. "Sectumsempra!" Malfoy screamed just as Dobbins appeared a foot in front of Snape.
"Protego!" Snape cast blocking the curse as it hurtled towards the assassin.
"Snape!" The Dark Lord yelled maniacally. "Traitor!"
"Good one, Sev!" Dobbins called out and cast his own cutting curse that slashed across Malfoy's chest. He fell to the ground, alive or dead, Snape was not sure.
For what felt like three hours, but which was more likely just a couple minutes, Snape and Dobbins fought back-to-back, blocking and casting as the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord surrounded them. Dobbins was holding his own as Snape had seen no one else do, blocking for himself and for Severus occasionally. Snape himself was starting to tire quickly. It was with the most relief he had felt in his life that he saw the wall of floos flare to life in the atrium and members of the Order of the Phoenix stream out to engage with the Death Eaters.
"You!" The Dark Lord snarled, looking at Dobbins with more hatred than he normally showed towards Dumbledore. "You're mine!"
Severus made to step in front of Dobbins but gasped as a wall of air hit him and he slid across the floor to behind where the Order members were fighting. Breathing air into his empty lungs, Snape saw Dobbins lower his arm having shoved his friend out of the way, because, yes, Severus was Dobbins's friend, and Dobbins was his, there was no other way of looking at it at this point.
"No, you're mine," Dobbins said darkly, glaring at the snake-like man.
After casting curses and spells that Snape had never heard of in his life, Dobbins and the Dark Lord seemed evenly matched. They had only been dueling for a few seconds, but it had to have been more impressive than even Dumbledore's duel with Grindelwald. Snape smiled, the Dark Lord was tiring, Snape could tell he was winded, and Dobbins seemed to not even have broken a sweat. His friend was going to win. He would live.
In a moment of pure terror and confusion for Severus, Dobbins looked over at Snape, a sad smile on his face. He gave a little wave of his hand and a shrug of his shoulders. "Avada kedavra!" The Dark Lord screamed out into the atrium.
One second passed, maybe it wasn't even one second, before Dobbins's scream was heard, "Avada kedavra!"
The two jets of green light passed each other in the air, never connecting, not interacting at all. They both flew true. The first spell struck Dobbins and time seemed to stand still as he fell to the ground. Just as the sickening thud sounded, the second spell hit its target and the Dark Lord in an almost mirror image fell the opposite direction to the ground as well.
"Noo!" The yell was heard throughout the ministry, but it took a while for Snape to realize it was coming from him, and also from Harry Potter.
Snape rushed through the Death Eaters that seemed to be stunned and quickly losing their will to fight at the death of their leader. The black headed teen was similarly rushing through them, a sobbing house elf close on his heels. "No, no, no, no," Severus felt for a pulse and started CPR, knowing there was nothing that was going to bring back his friend.
"No, you can't leave me!" Potter sobbed, grabbing onto Dobbins's hand, tears streaming from his eyes. "Come back!"
The fight may have still been going on. It was possible that curses were flying all around them, but Snape was dead to it all. It was just him, Harry Potter, a distraught house elf, and one very important history professor. The silence of the man they were all holding onto, his lack of heartbeat and breath, seemed to be the loudest thing in the room. There was nothing else, there was only this silence.
"Voldemort is dead. It's time for you all to surrender!" Dumbledore's voice called out from where he was crouched over the Dark Lord's body to all the Death Eaters, minutes too late to save their hero.
Severus Snape sat stunned in the kitchen of Number 12 Grimmauld Place. He was seated at the table in the corner of the room, right beside Potter, and the kitchen was filled with all the members of the Order of the Phoenix. He couldn't believe it was true. The war was over, and the Dark Lord was dead…but that couldn't be right. Dobbins had said the prophesy stated it would come down to the Dark Lord and Potter. It was Dobbins though, and neither made it out alive.
A wave of grief washed over Severus. It had been a long time since he would have called anyone his friend. He didn't know how the mysterious assassin had gotten there, but he was undoubtably one who Snape would classify as a friend. But how, if Dobbins was so sure about the prophesy, how had it happened? He had only to look at his left arm though to know it must be true. The Dark Mark was completely gone, and that could only mean the Dark Lord was gone as well. "Voldemort," he said out into the room causing everyone to turn and look at him. Snape showed them his blank arm. "It doesn't hurt to say it anymore," he explained in a daze.
"That's wonderful, Professor," Potter smiled at him, sadness in his eyes. The boy was mourning a lost friend as well. It had taken several Order members to pull them away from Dobbins's body as the aurors arrived. Both were distraught and the house elf, Dobby, had needed to be given a mild calming draught that he was sleeping off in the parlor.
"I'm sorry for your loss," Snape said without thinking first, just responding to the hurt in those green eyes, so much like Dobbins's.
"I'm sorry for yours as well," Potter nodded in understanding, the weak smile still on his face.
"So, it's really true," Remus Lupin stated from where he was sitting between Sirius Black and Nymphadora Tonks. "It's finally over."
"I don't know how," Dumbledore said at a loss for maybe the first time ever. "But, yes, it seems that it really is over this time."
"What was his name again? Davids?" Moody asked the room.
"Dobbins. Fred Dobbins," Severus said clearly and sternly out into the room for all to hear. "His name is Fred Dobbins." To his utter shock and surprise, Potter grabbed onto his sleeve, either trying to comfort Snape or himself, he wasn't sure.
"I for one plan to sleep for the next week," Black sighed in relief. "Then, I'm going to storm the ministry and demand a trial since they captured Pettigrew."
"Tonks," Lupin turned to the woman beside him. "Would you like to go to dinner with me next week?"
At that everyone, began talking amongst themselves excitedly. It seemed that Tonks must have answered in the affirmative, though Severus couldn't hear over the noise, because Lupin was grinning like an idiot. He and Potter were the only ones subdued, lost in the grief for their missing friend. Snape watched as Potter reached out and poured himself another cup of tea. Breath catching in his throat, Severus stared at the boy's hand. The hand that very clearly had carved in the back in white scars: I must not tell lies.
He saw Potter catch the direction his eyes were staring in and he flexed his hand with a small, knowing smile towards his professor. "I wonder…" Snape had to clear his throat before continuing. "I wonder if he ever told you who hired him."
Potter nodded. "Yes, just before he moved the last horcrux that Voldemort had made from me to himself." Snape stared at him in shock. "Voldemort had made several horcruxes to keep himself alive. They are vessels to store your soul in. He tracked them down and destroyed them this year. It's why the prophesy said it had to come down to Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Harry Potter was a horcrux, accidentally made when the killing curse rebounded off me," the boy continued. "He took out all the other horcruxes, making sure to transfer the one in me to himself."
Gripping the table so tightly his knuckles were white, he asked again. "So…who hired him?"
"George Weasley and Neville Longbottom," Potter responded in almost a trance. "The war…the war had too high of a cost. They'd lost it all. Harry everything, then he lost himself. They found him and gave him a new purpose. Apparently, there's a plant that can be developed into a potion that makes time travel over many years possible. Or so I was led to believe anyway. I guess we'll probably never see that potion developed now though." Potter finished, looking to the happy faces of Fred and George Weasley as they joked around with Black in the opposite corner of the room.
"No, I don't believe we will," Severus studied Potter, no Harry, for a minute. "I'll miss my friend," he finally said quietly. "But…I'm happy we'll never have reason to meet him again."
"I am too, Professor. Believe me, I am too," Harry sighed in relief. "I guess I should clean out his rooms when we return. He had no one else."
"He had me," Snape said quietly. "I'd like to help."
Harry sighed with almost a smile. "Thank Merlin. I had no clue what to do with an entire cabinet of Dreamless Sleep potions. Lord knows I don't think I'll ever be able to take it again knowing what I do now."
"Indeed," Snape agreed. "There's a picture I think he'd like you to have on his mantel though."
They sat there in silence, taking in the celebrations of those around them. After a minute, Harry added, "I think I'd like be a healer after graduation."
Severus nodded in understanding. Though he may not have lived it, the boy knew it had happened in one version of history. He had been a killer, though thankfully he never would be now. "That sounds like a worthwhile ambition. Let me offer my services to help you achieve your dreams."
"Thank you, Professor. I appreciate it," Harry nodded and the two of them sat in silence again and looked on as the Order celebrated and the assassin that changed their lives at the cost of four galleons and a potion was forgotten.
As he looked at the green-eyed boy beside him, Severus concluded that it was possible…maybe even probable…that Severus Snape might be becoming an optimist.
The End